State Education Board Won’t Reprimand Member Who Accused Teachers Of Partaking In ‘Grooming Of Children’
Reagan Reese on August 8, 2023
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) announced Monday that one of its members has been cleared of all wrongdoing after she came under fire for a social media post that claimed schools were playing a role in the “grooming of children for sex trafficking” through the push for “queer, gender bending ideologies,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
In July, the USBE opened three investigations into Natalie Cline, one of its members, after 49 public complaints were filed against her on issues regarding her social media and a library presentation, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The USBE revealed that there was no evidence of wrongdoing in Cline’s actions or social media posts, and therefore will not take action to punish Cline.
“USBE regrets that inaccurate statements regarding the investigation and preliminary analysis in this matter during the confidential investigation led to premature conclusions and speculation regarding Board action,” the board said in a statement. “USBE will continue to strengthen processes and policy to provide strong educational outcomes for Utah’s children, working with the public and legislature.”
Cline wrote in July that schools are not just “complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking,” but are supporting the process through LGBTQ ideologies, with a disclaimer reading that the post was not an official opinion of the board, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
“Schools are not only complicit in the grooming of children for sex trafficking, but they are aiding and abetting this evil practice by giving kids easy access to explicit, unnatural, and twisted sexual content and brainwashing them into queer, gender bending ideologies,” the post read, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Utah State Board of Education takes a cheap shot at Natalie Cline’s free speech and ends up giving itself a black eye.
Read the USBE’s rather pathetic press release concluding the end of its unconstitutional investigation of Cline here:https://t.co/x50sZizicn pic.twitter.com/Uo5JxhkJ4X
— Higher Ground (@highergroundUT) August 8, 2023
The investigation also focused on a presentation Cline gave at a local library as a part of her organization Higher Ground, a group that focuses on parental rights, according to KSL News. Cline allegedly made a statement at the end of the presentation about another board member who was unsure of what pronouns to use that day.
Cline previously came under fire by the USBE in 2021 after the board considered a social media post by Cline to be “incited hate speech,” Fox 13 News reported. Cline posted a photo of a pride flag at Layton Latter-day Saint seminary with the caption “the world is too much with us,” to which another social media user responded “time to get our muskets.”
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